POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Collection of glass plate negatives of Sydney and surrounds

Object No. 2008/165/1

This collection of glass plate negatives was acquired by the Museum in the 1980s and appears to have been made by a Sydney based photographic studio from around 1890 through to 1920. The images are on both whole and half plate negatives and many of the larger images are of a high quality. The subjects covered by the images relate strongly to a number of the Museum's collecting fields. Leisure and the performing arts are represented by a group of unusual boxing and fencing photographs, as well as sailing and portrait photos. One of these is a rare composite negative intended for producing Christmas greeting cards. The numerous images of locations and buildings around Sydney and New South Wales depict the social and economic enterprise of the period. While some are of more commonly photographed subjects, such as the Botanical Gardens and Sydney Town Hall, others are of subjects such as logging and the foundations for the Queen Victoria Building. There is another less formal set of negatives included in this collection that show community history in regional New South Wales. The Museum has a significant collection of glass plates, such as those held in the Tyrrell and Clyde Engineering collections. This group of negatives complements and strengthens the Museum's holdings of this particular photographic resource.